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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Etiquette? or not?

A friend and I were talking about this just the other day so I thought I would write about it and maybe get a discussion going...
Growing up I was taught that it was not polite and in fact even rude to talk about personal finances with other people. Ok, maybe it's acceptable to discuss these things with a best friend or a couple who might be more of the 'mentoring type', but it was made clear that it's not the type of topic for public conversation.
Am I wrong here?

My question is 'why would someone feel the 'need' to talk about their personal finances'? Why do some people choose to make their money problems known?

4 comments:

Hmm...good question. I think it all depends. I do not think it is a topic for public conversation - as in - a random group of moms one happens to run into at a park. It can be way more normal among friends at a social gathering. I have talked openly with friends about financial things such as: how much my child's surgery was going to cost us, how much the birth center charges vs hospital, how much we paid for our house, the list could go on. What is key is knowing your friends. It seems one's friends should know her well enough to know she aren't comfortable talking about such things. It isn't rude or improper etiquette for my friend to tell me all about the deal she got on new flooring for her house and how they cut back here and there to make it work because she knows me and knows it doesn't bother me. I might compare it to helping yourself to a drink out of someone's fridge. Certainly not proper etiquette by any measure but with some friends you don't need to follow proper etiquette. Alison